Genes May Explain Leukemia Treatment Failures
Findings Could Lead to Better Treatment for Patients
Findings Will Lead to Better Treatment
In an editorial that accompanies the study, Naomi J. Winick, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues say that these findings will lead to new, more targeted treatments for leukemia.
"The gene-expression patterns these authors describe can be used to begin to define the mechanisms of resistance and will stimulate the development of alternative treatment strategies, targeted to those with resistant disease identified at diagnosis," write the editorialists.
They say the identification of a gene profile that predicts the outcome of treatment would also allow treatment to be personalized early on and avoid use of unnecessary and ineffective drugs.